Home from Cruise

From summer to winter in one day!  That is how I felt yesterday when I left summer in Miami and arrived back in winter in Kansas.  But 5 days of paradise aboard the Navigator of the Sea definitely improved my outlook!

Our stateroom upon arriving on board ship.

A sponge I found on the beach at the lighthouse on Cozumel, Mexico.

The pier at Cozumel, with another cruise ship along side of ours.

Relaxing with some "rum punch" after snorkeling on the reef off of this island. Belize

The "Reef Rocket" that took us to Paradise to go snorkeling.  Belize Harbor

Reeze and Bruce like a couple of drowned rats after snorkeling.

Note glass of rum punch in hand - used to eliminate taste of salt water from mouth!!

New Block of the Month Quilt

Block of the Month for 2010. 

The quilt is called Tulip Tiles and is composed of five 12" tulip tile blocks, pieced sashing and corners stones, applique setting triangles, pieced border with applique corners, and 3 additional borders.  It's blue and white color scheme is reminicient of the delft tiles which often feature tulips or windmills.  The pink and green tulips bring color to the tiles and a breath of spring to the project.  I hope you like making this throw-sized quilt, and perhaps learn some new techniques along the way.

I will offer each block for two months for free, then the block will be available for purchase on my web site:  http://www.morningglorydesigns.net/.

Download the free fabric and supply list.

To download blocks go to the BOM page.

Mystery Solved

A music company reported my blog as having links to illegal music files.  A no-no for sure.  But my blog links to QUILT PATTERNS not music, so whatever bozo identified my blog as an illegal source of pirated music was a bone  head.  Ok, so I am not pleased about this and my irritation is showing.  But since there has not been a single sunny day since before Christmas I feel justified in biting off heads and spitting them out!!  All the more evidence that I NEED to go on a cruise next week to the sunny south.  I pretty much figure I can deduct this whole trip as a medical deduction, since someone's health is definitely at risk if I don't see sunshine in the next day or two.  I can't be held responsible for my actions when there is THIS MANY gray days.  Those of you who have SAD (seasonal affect disorder) know what I mean. 

Thank goodness for my quilting.  It has literally saved me.  Now if I could just get my hands on the moron from the music co. that complained about my musical quilt supply list justice would be served. . . . .

Phew. . .I better go eat chocolate.

New Block of the Month for 2010 -- Tulip Tiles

I am so excited!!  I can finally share my new free Block of the Month with you.  It is called Tulip Tiles and combines both piecing and applique.  It draws on the wonderful blue and white of delft and dutch tiles, with the added color of bright pink tulips to usher in the spring. This quilt would look wonderful in batiks, marbles, or bright prints.  I have done it in mostly blues and whites, but you may want to choose other colors for your spring time tulip tiles.

This block will be available for 1 month.  When I post the link to Block 2 on Feb 20, 2010, I will remove the link to this block.  It will then be available for sale on my web site.  You will be able to purchase the entire pattern once it is completed. 

Click here to purchase the pdf for Block 1.  The cost is $2.00 for download or $2.75 for mail.

The applique placement guide pdf is available with the purchase of Block 1.

The supply list pdf is available for free here.  Supply List

If you want to see a picture of the quilt you can see it here.  This way those who want it to be a suprise can just not look!!!   Yea right!  You know you are gonna look.  hehehe

Picture of Tulip Tiles Quilt

Oh. . . . And the winner is. . . . . Gari from Alabama, wins an assortment of FQ's for commenting on her preference to my post on my guild BOM I am designing!  Congratulations Gari.  Send my your snail mail at reezehanson [at] hotmail.com and I will put your thank you gift in the mail!!! And now off to celebrate my birthday!  :-)

Last Days to get BOM Midnight Posies for free

The weekend is here and my birthday is just around the corner.  And come Monday, January 18, the Midnight Posies BOM of 2009 will be over and the new 2010 BOM will begin.  So if you have not yet printed off the Midnight Posies block patterns you have until Monday.  I have been overwhelmed by the wonderful response I have received for this BOM and am so grateful to those of you who have expressed your admiration and gratitude for this free pattern.  It has really been fun to share it with you month by month.

Remember you will still be able to get this pattern after January 18 by going to my ETSY website and purchasing it. 

This morning I was able to get the borders put on my Bargello Block quilt.  I really like the way it frames the interior and brings out the colors.  I am thinking about quilting it in the ditch just to bring out the pattern a bit more boldly. It is going to the quilt shop tomorrow to hang as a class sample until early February, when the class is scheduled.  It really was easy to make once I figured out how to cut it!  LOL

I just can't stand it any more and decided I had to show you a bit more of the new BOM I will be revealing on Monday.  It is called Tulip Tiles and captures a bit of the feeling I get from the wonderful Delft Tiles in blue and white that I love so much.  It also has pink tulips, one of my favorite spring flowers. 

This sort of looks like my "blue and white period" with the Bargello and this quilt together!  But it wasn't intended that way.  It just happened.  LOL.  I love easy fusible machine applique and a bit of fun piecing so I have added elements of both in this quilt.  Here is another sneak peek.  I know I know, you wish I would quit teasing you and post the whole thing.  Well I promise I will. . . . on Monday.  It will be my birthday present to all of you!  Hope you are having a great weekend wherever you are.

Bargello Block Quilt coming together

Today I pieced the top of my Bargello Block quilt.  I have the borders cut but didn’t get them on yet.  Here is what it looks like so far.  The setting triangles are a very dark blue, but the borders will pull out the shades of blue in the quilt.

This is made up of 24 identical blocks that look like this:

The colors are more accurate in the block picture since I scanned the block.  The quilt picture was taken at night and the colors don’t come out quite right.  This line of fabrics was out last year or the year before and I had a yard of each of these fabrics except for the one with the lines on it.  I found that last week at Quilters Haven in Olathe, KS with the Asian fabrics!  But it was just the right color and I love the stars made out of dashed lines.  This is not as good a picture of the quilt but it does have my dog, Rockie, a yellow lab, peaking out from behind the quilt!  LOL  He has to get in on every picture we take.  I can’t tell you how many times I have cropped him out of pictures I have taken of quilts! 

I have been working on two different Block of the Month designs today as well.  I am designing one for my guild that starts this summer.  I wanted to do a pieced BOM since the last 3 have been appliqué.  I have been playing around with color schemes in EQ6 and have 4 different layouts that I am thinking about.  Here they are. . .still in very rough shape, but they are starting to take shape.

View Full Album

If you have a preference about which one you like, leave a comment and let me know which one you think looks best.  I’ll draw a name from all the comments and send you a set of FQ’s for helping me out with my design! 

And don’t forget I will be ending the Midnight Posies BOM on January 18 and introducing the new BOM for 2010.  Here is another little sneak peak.  I just can’t wait to share this with you.  Would you prefer to see it all at once, like Midnight Posies?  Or would you prefer to just get it a block at a time, like a Mystery Quilt?  Let me know what you prefer. Thanks for your feedback.

Actually I was overwhelmed by the feedback I got on my Midnight Posies offer of sending out the templates for the flower vine border!  I have sent out a LOT of templates and have been so touched by the many complimentary comments you have had about the pattern.  (And thanks for the birthday wishes too!!!) I can’t wait to share the new BOM with you next week!!

I am also quilting a table runner I designed but I will post that next time as I forgot to take a picture of it.  Oh well. . .till next time.

Reeze

More Snow. . . .and sneak peak at new 2010 BOM

Its snowing again in Kansas.  But I am not complaining because it means a snow day for me!  I plan to stay home and make a class sample of a new bargello block quilt from Maggie Ball's new book Bargello Quilts with a Twist.  Its a great concept to do bargello quilts in blocks rather than in whole quilt strips.  I can't wait to make one up.  Here is the quilt I will be making:

Maggie calls this color and setting Blue Delft.  I just love it, but then I am totally in love with blue like so many others, except of course my friend and pattern tester Kathi, who is doing this quilt with me, but hers is in the colors of the sunset -- pink, orange, yellow, and teal.  I am sure it will be gorgeous.  And since she hates blue I never have to worry that we will make the same quilt in the same colors!  LOL

What is so cool about Maggie's method is that the same blocks can be rearranged to make lots of different setting.  All of them are cool:

These are the same blocks just twisted around to make the setting look different.  I had so much fun playing with this setting in EQ6.  I did lots of color variations also and I wanted to make them all!  Yea right.  I will be lucky to get this one done in time for the class.  LOL

In addition to this cool Bargello quilt I am also working on the new BOM for 2010.  Of course it has flowers in it!  Need you ask?  I love flowers in quilts and always manage to get some in to every quilt I make somehow.  I think you may like this new quilt, so I am giving you a sneak peak.

This quilt will be all about tulips!  One of my favorite spring flowers.  It was inspired by the wonderful ceramic tiles I so love, so the name is "Tulip Tiles."  I have designed and adapted a variety of tulip blocks and framed them to look like delft tiles with a great pieced border.  Since my last quilt was pieced blocks with an applique border, this quilt will be applique or embroidered block with pieced sashings and borders.  OK, I hope that is enough of a tease to get you interested.  I am working up the instructions now and will post the first block on January 18, when I take down the links to the Midnight Posies.

So stay tuned for more hints and peaks at the new 2010 BOM, Tulip Tiles.

I am also working on more Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Quilt Blocks.  5 more done in row D.  The first one on the left was a true booger!!  I ended up clipping one of the points big time, and was just too frustrated to go back and fix it.  Now that I am calmer, I think I should fix it but it is already off to the quilt shop so everyone can see my mistake!  Oh well, keeps me humble.  hehehe.  The rest were easy to do.  The Milky way star was rotary cut but the last three were all paper pieced.  I have pieces cut for the blocks for the next 3 rows and plan to sit down and sew them this weekend.

Stay warm wherever you are!

Brrrrrr it's cold in Kansas

This is the view out of my back door on Christmas Day.

This is the INSIDE of our screened in porch.  The snow is gone from inside the porch now but not from the yard, driveway or street.  So this New Years Eve will be spent in my cozy warm house -- sewing!  (It's about 15 degrees F right now. . .yikes!)  When it turns cold like this I get a nesting instinct and wrap up in quilts and sweaters and nap in my recliner.  Ahhhhh, no sense coming out until Spring!!

My yellow lab Rockie loves opening packages, even when they are not for him.  Notice how well he can help open an envelope with outh missing a beat!  This is one package eating dog!!

So I guess I will warm up a bowl of soup, grab a trashy novel and a quilt, and commence to curling up.  Happy New Year!!!

Midnight Posies Block 12 -- Tulip Garden Block

I am so pleased to share block 12 with you in the Midnight Posies series!  I hope you have had a blast making these simple but totally bright and fun blocks, and built your quilting confidence in the process.

This last block in the series had four gorgeous red tulips dancing around a green and purple garden.  The block looks complicated, but as always the techniques make it easy!

This pattern is no longer available for free but can be purchased on my web site or at my Etsy shope. [Click here to go to my ETSY shop]

I am working on a brand new Free BOM which will start in January!  No peaking for the moment, but I will share a few hints in upcoming posts.

And you thought Christmas was over!!  Silly you.

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Presents of the Quilty Kind

I am not good at getting things done on time.  Ask anyone I swap with, they will tell you I am last minute Lulu.  So it should be no suprise that I am packing up boxes for out of town family members with Christmas goodies.  Two went in the mail today and one will go tomorrow.  I hear people say how they did all their holiday shopping in October, have everything wrapped in November and shipped out by December 1.  Yea right!!  I think they must be lying.  Its just not possible.  Even when I try to shop early I still can't bring myself to assemble all the wrapping items in one room until at least the 20th of December.  Its a rule!  Ok, more like a guideline, or perhaps a suggestion.  Sheesh, why can't I get things done ahead of time? 

I blame it mostly on being a teacher and waiting until school "breaks" to get real work done.  I suspect that is just a lame excuse for a far more significant and dangerous condition.  If I didn't procrastinate, I tell myself, what would I have to look forward to???  So anyway, Christmas is almost a day away and I am just getting gifts finished and wrapped and shipped.  So big deal.  LOL

So if you are a member of my family, don't read any further cuz one of these items might be for you.  Everone else can read on!  In early November at retreat I made some fun table runners using striped fabrics and a 60 degree triangle ruler.  These were totally fun and addicting.  This week I got them quilted and bound. 

This poinsettia runner is one of those floral border stripes.  The outer edge looks black but it is really a dark green.  I quilted a feather in the center after marking it in pencil.  I did this one on my Bernina.  I stitched around each of the poinsettias in gold thread and then did the curved feather border in gold as well.  I am getting better with my free motion quilting, but still need a lot more practice.  I think the feather in the center came out best of all .  Here is a closeup.

This is the smaller of two runners I made using this fabric.  The other is about 76" long and has the tan center like this one but also has tan on the outside as well.  Of course I packed it up without taking a picture of it but you can see a picture of it before I quilted it here.  DUH.  I quilted that one on my HQ16 using a panto called "Pheonix" from Urban Elementz.  It is a bit big for the runner and I should have used a slightly smaller design, but I think it looks ok given the size of the runner.  Both of these are for my sister.  So shhhh don't say anything until she gets them and has time to open them.  The pattern for these is called the Easy Striped Table Runner by Karen Montgomery and it is soooo simple.  Even I can do it, and ahead of schedule at that! 

The binding on this runner is Nan Binding.  that is binding sewn on completely by machine.  Nan D taught me how to make this so of course it is named in her honor.  [Ever notice how quilters name things after the person who taught them how to do it?]  It is sewn onto the back of the quilt -- instead of the front -- and stitched down on the front with a blind hem stitch and matching thread.  I love Nan binding!!!

You can see more Nan binding on this little placemat I made for my great (or is it grand?) nephew, Dominic.  This was totally fun to make and quilted up so fast.  And of course, with Nan binding it finishes fast too.  I quilted on all the black lines around each border and stippled the blue background to make the white center puff up.  I love the way that all the "pie slices" fit together even though they don't match up.  This really is a fun and easy pattern.

Well after I got these runners made, well really it was the other way around.  I made the stockings first!  I made Christmas stockings for all my great (or is it grand) nieces and nephews.  Six new ones just this year!!!  On my husband's side of the family there was Brooklyn, Delaney, and Molly.  On my side of the family there was Clark, Jack and Tessa (who is not yet born but will be coming along very shortly).  Here is Jack's stocking.

And here is Tessa's stocking.

It was such fun to quilt these.  I lined the fronts and backs of each stocking with batting between the layers.  The I quilted the backs with cross-hatching and quilted the fronts outlineing all the elements on the preprinted stocking panels.  I bought these panels last year when I made stockings for Michael and Dominic.  I am glad I bought plenty of fabric at the time cuz who knew I would need to make 6 more this year????

Finally I made some placemat sets for my other nephew and his wife.  These were made with the figgy pudding line of fabric by Moda.

I posted instructions for this pattern I designed on my blog earlier and you can go back and find the instructions here.  If you make some of these please send me a picture.  I would love to see what yours look like.  Ok, I have blathered on enough for one night.  Hope you enjoy the pictures and the quilts.  I am going to go get a glass of wine, put my feet up and read a good book!